Physical Therapist Assistants

Minimal Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Physical Therapists
13% automation risk | Minimal Risk
Pays better More jobs
5.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Common advancement path using treatment planning, anatomy, outcomes, patient education, and rehabilitation with major retraining.

Recreational Therapists
4% automation risk | Minimal Risk
14.1 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Applies therapeutic activities, patient goals, mobility limitations, progress notes, motivation, and care-team coordination.

Athletic Trainers
13% automation risk | Minimal Risk
5.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers injury prevention, exercise instruction, patient observation, functional movement, and rehabilitation planning.

Massage Therapists
13% automation risk | Minimal Risk
5.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Applies anatomy, patient comfort, soft-tissue awareness, manual care, treatment goals, and client communication.

Rehabilitation Counselors
13% automation risk | Minimal Risk
5.6 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Uses disability context, functional goals, patient motivation, progress barriers, advocacy, and individualized support.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
7.3/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

18% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Assisting and caring for others

Very important
Why this matters
Provide hands-on help, emotional support, or personal care to people—work that depends on empathy, trust, and responding to individual needs in the moment.
Jobs that also use this strength

Working directly with the public

Very important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength
Show 5 more strengths

Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 66 votes

34% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 18% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Physical Therapist Assistants will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Physical Therapist Assistants was $65,510 ($31 per hour).

The median annual wage for Physical Therapist Assistants was 32.3% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Physical Therapist Assistants' job openings is expected to rise 22.0% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 108,010 people employed as 'Physical Therapist Assistants' within the United States.

This represents around 0.07% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 1 thousand people are employed as 'Physical Therapist Assistants'.

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What people are saying (3)

Molly Brown
02 Jan 2025 06:42
No Silent Gen, Boomer, or Gen X'r wants a robot telling them what to do. Millennial's and beyond may be okay w/ robots performing personal care tasks but until Gen X is gone.. not so much.
iz me Alex
15 Feb 2020 01:57
I don't think so cuz therapists help you and understand your feelings
Hi
12 Nov 2020 09:46
And computers can't help you with ur feeling in my opinion
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Job description

Assist physical therapists in providing physical therapy treatments and procedures. May, in accordance with state laws, assist in the development of treatment plans, carry out routine functions, document the progress of treatment, and modify specific treatments in accordance with patient status and within the scope of treatment plans established by a physical therapist. Generally requires formal training.

O*NET-SOC code: 31-2021.00